President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has described childless women as 'deficient', saying a woman's life is 'incomplete' if she fails to have offspring.

The Turkish leader said that he would 'recommend women to have at least three children', adding that he 'absolutely doesn't accept' a woman choosing to have a career over raising a family.

President Erdogan made the controversial statements during a speech at Turkey's national women's association in Istanbul on Sunday.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan branded childless women 'deficient', saying a woman's life is 'incomplete' if she fails to produce children

In a somewhat contradictory speech, he then added that he was a strong supporter of women having careers but emphasised that this should not be an 'obstacle' to having children.

'A woman who abstains from motherhood saying "I am working" means she is in fact rejecting motherhood,' Erdogan said in a speech marking the opening of the new building of Turkey's Women's and Democracy Association (KADEM).

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'I absolutely don't accept making (a woman's) business life an alternative to motherhood.'

'Rejecting motherhood means giving up on humanity. I would recommend having at least three children,' added the president.

'A women who rejects motherhood, who refrains from being around the house, however successful her working life is, is deficient, is incomplete.

President Erdogan, centre, also said that he 'absolutely does not accept' a woman choosing to not have children in order to focus on work

'The fact that a woman is attached to her professional life should not prevent her from being a mother,' he added, saying that Turkey had taken 'important steps' to support working mothers.

Erdogan had on Monday said that family planning and contraception were not for Muslim families, prompting fury among women's activists.

According to the statistics office, Turkey's population rose to 78.741 million last year, a growth rate of around 1.3 percent. The population in 2000 was less than 68 million.

But Erdogan indicated he wanted more, saying Turkey is a country 'with great goals' and to achieve them 'every member of the nation should be mobilised.'

'Strong families lead to strong nations,' he said.

Erdogan has two daughters and two sons with his wife Emine.

His younger daughter Sumeyye, who last month married defence industrialist Selcuk Bayraktar in a high-profile wedding, is the deputy chairman of KADEM.

Erdogan, a pious Muslim, has repeatedly annoyed feminists and women's activists with his comments on sex and family planning, once describing birth control as 'treason'.

The composition of Turkey's new cabinet under Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced last month also annoyed activists, with just one female minister, heading the family ministry, in the government.

But the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) which Erdogan co-founded angrily rejects allegations of sexism and says it has done more than any other Turkish government to encourage women to work.